


The Best Medicine

by mpatientdreamr



Category: New Girl
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-07-01
Updated: 2012-07-01
Packaged: 2017-11-08 22:55:42
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 644
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/448467
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mpatientdreamr/pseuds/mpatientdreamr
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Winston wasn't sick.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Best Medicine

**Author's Note:**

> This was written before The Story of the 50 (1x10) aired.

Winston wasn’t sick. Winston Bishop did not _get_ sick. That thing his nose was doing, that wasn’t sniffling. That was manly snot checking. Because Winston didn’t get sick.

Then he sneezed so hard he whacked his head against the table, emitting a low, “Uowgh,” because that was both disgusting _and_ painful.

“Aw, Winston, are you sick?” Jess asked, her cool palm settling against his forehead just like his Nene used to do.

“Yes,” he said in a gaspy rasp, looking up into her worried eyes because Jess Day _made things better_. Except for when she made them a million times worse, but he was pretty sure she wouldn’t be soul-crushingly bad at this.

“Aww,” she said again. “Let’s get you better.” She thought for a moment then asked, “Do you want some tea?”

“With honey,” he said. He wasn’t afraid to ask for what he wanted. Or to demand it, for that matter. That’s how people _got_ what they wanted. Unless they were Jess; then they sang people into submission.

She plied him with tea until his eyeballs were floating. 

(“Does this have honey in it?”

“Of course!:

“Really?”

“I’ll add more.” o_O)

He got sleepy about the time Jess’s good humor started to run out. “I’m going to take a nap.”

“Good!” she chirped, looking a bit frazzled.

He detoured through the bathroom and found Nick and Schmidt quietly arguing. They broke apart when he wandered in, so he knew it was about him, but he was sick, so he didn’t care. They were gone when he finished and he shrugged, heading for his bed where he collapsed face first and passed soundly out.

He woke up, he was sure, _months_ later if the crick in his neck was to be believed, bundled under a billion blankets, including Jess’s favorite quilt that her Memaw had sew for her. (There were couple of staples and a few patches held together with superglue but she got teary eyed about it, so _nobody_ asked.) Besides the crick in his neck, he felt a million times better.

He heard whispering and shoved the blankets away so he could hear what was being said.

“But what if he doesn’t get better? It’s _Winston_!” Jess hissed, working herself into a fine fit.

“He’ll be fine. It’s just a summer cold,” Nick said in his patented, ‘I’m being patient but only because it’s Jess’ voice.

“But what if he _isn’t_ fine?” she stressed. “It’ll be my fault because I didn’t take him to the doctor and- Nick! What if he _dies_?”

“Jess,” he’s not gonna die,” Nick said and now he was definitely somewhere between annoyed and laughing at her. “You’re a teacher. Kids are walking plague machines. You know how to deal with sick people.”

“I deal with sick kids by sending them to the nurse when they make puke face,” she said, sounding pitiful. “I’m just so _bad_ with sick people.”

Winston couldn’t stand it. “Jess?”

“Winston?” she whispered, hand suddenly pressing against his cheek.

He caught her fingers, twining his through them, then rolled, causing her to ‘Eep!’ as he said, “I feel better. Thank you.”

She hesitated, then curled around him, settling into the unfamiliar yet ultimately comfortable role of Big Spoon. She whisper-sang, “Winston feels better. Honey and tea make him sweeter. Then a little sleepy with Memaw’s binky. Snug as a bug in a rug. He’s Winston, my snuggle buggy.”

Winston grinned as she kept humming her ditty until her breathing evened out. Nick snorted quietly from the doorway but Winston didn’t care. Five minutes after he met her, give or take, with her wide weepy blue eyes and her broken heart on her sleeve, watching her tell off her skeevy ex off by telling him she loved her roommates, Winston came to a realization. Her name was Jess and she made everything better.

**Author's Note:**

> Author’s Notes: Jess Day is the only character I’ve ever thought it proper to use emoticons for. :)


End file.
